Passport panic has been getting lots of our members in a right tizzy! Apparently applicants in the UK are experiencing horrendous delays – so much so that Boris Johnson has been threatening to privatize the passport office if they don’t get their act together. In a sign of how uncivilized the political discourse has become BoJo threatened to ‘privatise the arse’ out of the passport office unless it clears the applications backlog threatening millions of summer holidays.
And of course the British newspapers are adding fuel to fire with terrify headlines claiming that “up to a million trips are being put at risk”.
It is a bit unfair blaming incompetent staff when I hear that a lot of these delays have been caused by an overwhelming amount of people putting off their renewal until the very last minute.
Surely everybody knows by now that you shouldn’t book a trip until you have a valid passport in your hands…?
If you are applying whilst in the UK the current wait is approximately 10 weeks. If you really can’t wait that long you can pay extra (more than double the price!) for their one week Fast Track or two day Premium Service.
Also good to keep in mind that you can actually renew a passport up to nine months before its expiration date, so why wait? Avoid the worry and do it now if you can!
The good news for those of us living in the USA the turnaround time is currently about 3 weeks, apparently this is due to overseas applications being processed in a different (more efficient?) office – one Brits in LA member reported that they applied online on April 11th and had the new one back by April 26th – it probably would have been even faster if there hadn’t been the Easter Bank Holiday in between!
Visit this link for full details www.gov.uk/apply-renew-passport and don’t hesitate to drop me a line if you get stuck.
Thankfully I renewed my passports last year, as I half suspected there might be a big rush once travel opened up a bit. I don’t think privatization is the necessarily the answer though, do you?
I finally got it together to apply for my Global Entry Card – for those of you who aren’t aware, this is a program that enables you to skip the long lines at border control when returning to the USA. It also includes TSA PreCheck which helps you speed through Transportation and Security Administration security at more than 200 U.S. airports by circumventing the oftentimes arduous tasks of removing your shoes, laptop, quart-sized bag of liquids, etc.
Another benefit is that because it is an official government issued ID it can be used in place of Real ID which is set to be mandatory in many scenarios from May 2023.
It costs $100 and membership lasts five years. Many credit card companies reimburse the fee, I know that my Chase card does, but check with yours first rather than just assume.
It is a fairly simple process, you just have to fill in a form and submit documents verifying your identity then wait for them to be approved. Once that’s done you can schedule an interview; this is where it can get a bit tricky, as many people I spoke to said the first available appointment wasn’t until January 2023!
There is another option available though, and this is to request an interview at immigration when returning from traveling abroad. This is how I managed to avoid the wait time. No appointment is necessary but do bear in mind they close at 9pm at LAX.
It was surprisingly straightforward, when showing my passport at border control I politely mentioned that my Global Entry application had been conditionally approved and would like to do my interview and was then directed over to another booth. There were a couple of people ahead of me and each interview seemed to take just over 10 minutes. Mine was less than that, just a few questions then it was time to have my fingerprints and photograph taken – I wasn’t at all ready for my close up, after all I had been traveling for the last 15 hours, but still much better than waiting an extra seven months.
Global Engtry is currently available to US Citizens and permanent residents ( green card holders) – visit this link for details: https://ttp.dhs.gov
Outside of American enrollment, Global Entry is also available for residents and citizens of 13 countries that offer reciprocal benefits including the United Kingdom!
Visit www.gov.uk/global-entry-usa for more info.
Canadian citizens and residents are eligible for Global Entry benefits through membership in the NEXUS program.
I’ve not had a chance to use it yet but really looking forward to it as many of my friends rave about it, so I am very pleased to be part of this club!
If you have any questions about this or anything else you can email me at eileen@Britsin.LA
Cheers!
Eileen
